Thursday, May 31, 2018

In the week ending May 26, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 221,000, a decrease of 13,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 234,000. The 4-week moving average was 222,250, an increase of 2,500 from the previous week's unrevised average of 219,750.

Claims taking procedures in Puerto Rico and in the Virgin Islands have still not returned to normal. emphasis added

The previous week was unrevised.

The following graph shows the 4-week moving average of weekly claims since 1971.

Click on graph for larger image.

The dashed line on the graph is the current 4-week average. The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased to 222,250.

This was close to the consensus forecast. The low level of claims suggest few layoffs.